CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation
This CISA practice question tests your understanding of information systems acquisition, development and implementation. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is migrating from a legacy system to a cloud-based ERP. Which of the following is the MOST important control to ensure data integrity during data conversion?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Reconciliation of control totals
Reconciliation of control totals is the most important control because it directly verifies that the sum of key fields (e.g., total account balances, record counts) in the source system matches the target cloud-based ERP after conversion. This ensures no data is lost, duplicated, or corrupted during the extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) process, which is critical for maintaining data integrity in a migration from a legacy system.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Automated backup
Why it's wrong here
Backup ensures data is saved but does not verify the correctness of the conversion process.
✗
User acceptance testing
Why it's wrong here
UAT tests business processes and user requirements, not the accuracy of data conversion.
✗
Parallel running
Why it's wrong here
Parallel running helps validate system functionality but does not directly confirm data integrity at the record level.
✓
Reconciliation of control totals
Why this is correct
Control totals provide a simple but effective way to verify that data quantities and key figures match between source and target systems.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'parallel running' (a system validation technique) with a data integrity control, but parallel running validates operational consistency over time, not the precise completeness and accuracy of the converted data set itself.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Control totals are computed before conversion (e.g., sum of all account balances in the legacy general ledger) and compared after loading into the cloud ERP. Discrepancies can pinpoint specific records or transformation rules that failed—for example, a missing decimal place in a currency field or a truncated VARCHAR in a name field. In practice, auditors often use hash totals (e.g., MD5 checksums of record sets) for large-volume conversions to detect even single-bit changes.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the CISA exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation — This question tests Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Reconciliation of control totals — Reconciliation of control totals is the most important control because it directly verifies that the sum of key fields (e.g., total account balances, record counts) in the source system matches the target cloud-based ERP after conversion. This ensures no data is lost, duplicated, or corrupted during the extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) process, which is critical for maintaining data integrity in a migration from a legacy system.
What should I do if I get this CISA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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